My site on philosophy, theology, apologetics, and whatever else I feel like writing about.

Historical Jesus

“…The Jesus story is hardly original, much of it copied from other, earlier myths. Hercules had a prophesied birth, a divine father and mortal mother, and at the end of his life uttered the words, ‘It is finished’ before ascending to Olympus. Osiris was born of a virgin, was hailed as king, rose from the grave and went to heaven. The early Romans had the pagan god Attis, born December 25th, crucified and rising again on a Sunday 200 years before the story of Christ. Dionysus, the Greek god and son of Zeus, was also born December 25th of a virgin mother, healed the sick, turned water to wine and was resurrected from death to save mankind. It’s also interesting to note at the December 25th Christmas holiday is actually based on the week-long Babylonian festival of Saturnalia (the festival of Saturn, the sun god, a pagan celebration).”

…Or so says the people over at The Thinking Atheist,1 a secular website (as well as a radio podcast and online community) hosted by former religious broadcaster Seth Andrews. Are they right? Are the stories of Jesus really no more than “plagiarized poppycock?”2